This November, Spectacle is replacing our regular 3pm Sunday programming with a series of films connected to the history of Palestine and its people's struggle for liberation. These films center the history of this nearly century-long conflict around issues of colonialism and resistance and provide context through a variety of archival sources as well as critical analysis from preeminent Palestinian scholar Edward Said. Notably, each of the films screening in November are all at least a decade old, yet their content feels as if it could come from these last few weeks of 2023.

This program will be followed by a continuation of the topic in December, when Spectacle will present a selection of more contemporary documentaries that demonstrate the continued severity of the situation in Palestine, along with some of the oldest-accessible feature length narrative fiction films from Arab and Palestinian filmmakers.

Due to the sudden need for this fundraising series, we are still in the process of finalizing the November titles and will announce them in the weeks leading up to each screening.

All proceeds will benefits relief efforts. 

INTRODUCTION TO THE END OF AN ARGUMENT
dir. Elia Suleiman, 1990
United States. 41 min.
In English and Arabic

Elia Suleiman's radically-assembled collage documentary critiques orientalist representations of Arabic culture, focusing on the production of biased and harmful narratives surrounding the Palestinian struggle for liberation.

screening with

AL-NAKBA: THE PALESTINIAN CATASTROPHE 1948
dir. Benny Brunner & Alexandra Jansse, 1996
The Netherlands. 58 min.
In Arabic, English, and Hebrew.

Former IDF soldier and self-described "reformed Zionist" Benny Brunner adapts Israeli historian Benny Morris' The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem, 1947-1949 into a documentary detailing the mass expulsion of Palestinians from their homes during the creation of the state of Israel. Brunner's documentary features interviews from refugees and veterans of Israeli paramilitary forces alike.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5 - 3PM
$5 minimum donation.
Proceeds to benefit the Palestinian American Community Center and Islamic Relief US.